The activities of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in 2009-2010
Contribution
| Doc. 12369
| 28 September 2010
- Rapporteur :
- Ms Hermine NAGHDALYAN,
Armenia, ALDE
- Origin
- Reference to committee: standing
mandate. Reporting committee: Committee on Economic Affairs and Development.
See Doc. 12340.
Contribution approved by the committee on 21 September 2010. 2010 - Fourth part-session
- Thesaurus
1 Conclusions
of the committee
1. The Committee on Migration, Refugees and Population
welcomes the report by Mr Juan Moscoso del Prado Hernández (Spain,
SOC), which concentrates in a timely manner on the OECD’s assessment
of economic prospects for the recovery from the economic crisis
and outlines the main lessons to be drawn from this crisis and the
ways of addressing these concerns.
2. With regard to its own field of activities, the committee
commends the leading international role that the OECD has continued
to play in following up on the global trends in international migration
through the period of economic recession and in formulating policy
suggestions for dealing with its impacts on labour markets.
3. The committee recalls that, in its
Resolution 1718 (2010) on the impact
of the global economic crisis on migration in Europe, the Parliamentary
Assembly called upon its partner organisations, including the OECD,
to continue to co-operate in disaggregated data collection and monitoring
the various implications and consequences of the economic downturn
on migrants and their children. In this respect, it particularly welcomes
the recently published
International
Migration Outlook 2010, which presents new data on the consequences
of the economic crisis on migrant workers, analyses the role of
migration in labour market adjustments and surveys the evolution
of public opinion on migration through this crisis.
4. The committee observes that the recent recession has had a
significant impact in most OECD countries on the employment situation
of immigrants and on international migration flows. According to
the findings of the OECD, permanent legal immigration of foreign
nationals fell by 6% and temporary migration by 4% in 2008, reversing
the previous five years’ average annual increase of 11%. This trend
was confirmed and even reinforced in 2009. However, migration has
not come to a standstill, partly because humanitarian and family movements
are less sensitive to changes in labour market conditions, but also
because of structural needs and demographic trends.
5. The committee notes that the impact of the current recession
on the labour market has been uneven among OECD countries. It has
touched the hardest those countries that had particularly high inflows
of migrants shortly before the economic downturn. For example, Spain,
the Czech Republic, Italy and Ireland have seen declines in immigration
of about 25% or more, whereas countries such as Austria, Denmark, Portugal
or Mexico have shown increases in net migration of over 40%.
6. The committee observes that the global economic crisis has
not had much impact on asylum claims in the OECD area as a whole.
The total number of asylum seekers has remained virtually unchanged.
7. The crisis has, however, put many migrant workers out of work
at a higher rate than native-born workers. The unemployment rate
of immigrants in the EU-15 increased by 3.5 percentage points in
2008-2009, which is twice the figure for native-born populations.
But again, statistics vary among the countries: while unemployment
increased by more than 10 percentage points in Spain and by 8.6
points in Ireland, it increased by less than one percentage point
in Belgium, Norway or Poland and decreased by half a percentage
point in Germany. These cross-country differences should be kept
in mind when reflecting on the consequences of the economic crisis
on migrant workers.
8. All in all, migration within the free movement areas has seen
the sharpest declines: this involves labour migrants who can come
and go as they please, as they have the right to live and work in
other European Union countries. Part of the disproportionate impact
on migrant workers is due to their concentration in certain sectors which
particularly suffered during the downturn (construction, food processing,
leisure industry), as well as their lower seniority and less stable
contracts.
9. Workers from the rest of the world tend to be hired more into
sectors where there is a “structural” shortage of jobs. These migrants
tend to stay in their host country when they lose their jobs, because
it is more difficult for them to return when employment conditions
improve. Government incentives to encourage returns to the home
country have not met with success. For example, out of the 137 000
unemployed immigrants eligible for the Spanish return programme
in 2009, only 10 000 persons and 3 600 family members applied.
10. In this context, the committee reiterates its previous concern
about unemployment forcing an ever-increasing number of regular
migrants into an irregular situation, which bears a true risk of
“normalising irregularity” in Europe. Migrants who lose their legal
status are often forced to accept extremely bad conditions for fear
of unemployment and destitution. Their situation also makes them
prey for smuggling and trafficking networks.
11. The committee shares the OECD’s concern as regards the particularly
severe impact of the crisis on young migrants, who may have difficulty
reconnecting to the labour market, even during the recovery phase. This
implies a real threat of a long-term negative impact on their integration.
12. The committee observes that, because of their traditional
sectors of employment, male migrants generally suffer more from
unemployment than their female counterparts. Contrary to general
perceptions, in some OECD countries, the crisis has even encouraged
employment rates among immigrant women, who have taken jobs to compensate
for loss of income by male members of their families.
13. Regardless of recent improvements of macroeconomic prospects,
it is still unclear in most OECD countries whether the recovery
will generate sufficient job creations to close the employment gap
before the end of 2011. The committee therefore calls on the member
states to apply measures that are as inclusive as possible to help
the unemployed in the labour market. Regular migrants who are currently
without work should be given the same opportunities as native-born
unemployed to develop their skills and to reintegrate into the ranks
of the employed during the recovery. The committee believes that
employment is the best insurance against social exclusion and marginalisation
of migrants and their children. It also has an effect on public opinion
towards immigration.
14. The committee is convinced that the current economic difficulties
are temporary; they will not change long-term demographic trends
and should not be used as an excuse to overly restrict immigration.
Although mobilising domestic labour resources is definitely the
best way to address expected declines in working-age population,
it may not be sufficient when the economy recovers. The OECD predicts
that without an increase in the current migration rates the working-age
population in OECD countries will increase by only 1.9% over the
next ten years, compared to the 8.6% growth seen between 2000 and
2006. Immigrants already represent up to a third of new entries
to the working age population. In a number of countries in southern
Europe and in the Czech Republic, about 90% of population growth
has been due to migration.
15. In the committee’s view, achieving good outcomes in the labour
market for migrants who already reside in European countries should
be an imperative target. Migrants need to be actively engaged in
the labour market and to be as self-sufficient as native-born persons
of comparable education and skills. Another policy objective should
be to make labour migration correspond to real labour-market needs.
More and more new jobs in the OECD are highly skilled, which may
require recruitment from abroad, although the need for lesser-skilled migrants
in some sectors will also remain. Nevertheless, where resident unemployed
workers are available or can be easily trained to fill a job, they
should be given the first opportunity before other workers are recruited from
abroad.
16. Finally, the committee maintains that one of the keys to satisfactory
employment outcomes and, ultimately, integration for immigrants
is naturalisation. The OECD research shows that naturalised immigrants enjoy
substantially better labour market outcomes across a whole range
of indicators, such as a higher employment probability, better occupational
status and access to the public sector, and higher wages. Immigrants
who are eligible to take up nationality of the host country should
be encouraged to do so. Meanwhile, governments should also consider
lowering barriers to naturalisation, such as limits on dual nationality
and overly restrictive eligibility criteria.
2 Proposed amendment to the provisional draft resolution
While emphasising its support for the draft resolution tabled
by the Committee on Economic Affairs and Development, the Committee
on Migration, Refugees and Population proposes to include the following paragraphs
in the provisional draft resolution:
“1. The enlarged Assembly expresses its concern over the effects
that the recent economic crisis has had on international migration
flows and on the employment situation of migrants in most OECD countries.
It welcomes the OECD’s continuing efforts to assist governments
in seeking responses and adjustment to the tightened labour market
situation. In this respect, it particularly hails the recent publication
of International Migration Outlook 2010.
2. While recognising that most of the decline in migration
for employment has been driven by lower demand, the enlarged Assembly
continues to be concerned about the tightening of administrative
mechanisms for immigration in several OECD countries. It renews
its call on the governments of member states to keep open legal
avenues of entry and employment of migrants and to provide guarantees
for adequate and effective protection of the rights of migrants
as well as for their equal treatment with native-born job seekers
on the labour market. The enlarged Assembly further calls on governments
to adopt measures that would help to identify and meet endemic skills
shortages that will become more apparent with economic recovery.
3. Furthermore, considering the structural needs for labour
on the one hand and the increased number of irregular migrants residing
in OECD countries on the other, the enlarged Assembly encourages
the OECD to carry out a study on the possibilities of regulating
the status of those irregular migrants who cannot or will not return
to their countries of origin, and their integration in legal channels
of the labour market.”
